Peru's Congress boosts state energy firm in populist turn
Peru's Congress boosts state energy firm in populist turn
Fri Sep 4, 2015 3:37am BST
LIMA, Sept 3
Lawmakers in Peru reversed course on state-owned Petroperu's role in upstream businesses and voted on Thursday to remove a legal barrier that kept it from taking control of the country's biggest oil block.
The populist turn comes as Petroperu supporters in the Amazonian city of Iquitos continued protests against the government's recent decision to grant Pacific Exploration and Production Corp a two-year service contract to keep oil flowing from block 192 after a 30-year concession failed to draw any bids in an auction last month.
The bill's success, a week after a similar measure failed to garner support, is the strongest sign yet of the tide of nationalist and left-leaning posturing that tends to precede presidential elections in Peru.
Peruvians will vote on a successor to President Ollanta Humala in April 2016.
More:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/09/04/peru-politics-idUKL1N1191WJ20150904?rpc=401